My best work comes when I remain true to my personal values. Over time I have translated them into some core principles that guide the way I work in my roles and with my clients. These are the things that are important to me.

I’ve summarised them below, in no particular order, with a short explanation as well as what they are a counterpoint to.

Collaborate.

Complex challenges are not the preserve of the lone expert figuring out a solution. We need to bring people together from across the system or ‘problem space’ in order to work together and make a difference.

…to avoid silo-working and competition.

Look to the long-term.

Short-term incentives tend to drive our thinking and practice yet it is in the long-run that significant change can accrue (for good or ill). Thinking about the impact of our work on future generations is a start.

…to avoid quick fixes.

Surface assumptions.

What assumptions are we making? Too often the important goes unspoken. Challenges are made worse when there is a lack of clarity in a team and it’s made worse when we think we know what’s going on or what someone means.

…to avoid taking things for granted.

Bring different perspectives.

It’s easy to assume we have the monopoly on understanding a problem by virtue of our own expertise and experience, which can be made worse by when all those on the team have a similar background or training. it’s vital we bring different views to the table – and that includes those who are impacted most by the challenge we seek to address.

…to avoid group think.

Get clear on purpose.

All too often when you ask people why athey are doing something they stop in their tracks because they’ve never really interrogated the why or continued to hold it central to their thinking. Remember why we are doing something to avoid mission creep into unwarranted areas of activity.

…to avoid solutions in search of a problem.

Focus on process.

How you do something is much more important than the goal or outcome your activities are intended to achieve. This is vital in complex situations where we don’t have the predictibility between cause and effect. What you have control over is the quality of the process and if you do that you’ll be proceeding towards the best possible future.

…to avoid the idea you can control the outcome.

Address causes.

We need to tackle our critical challenges and problems as they show up in the world to lessen their impact on people, but this not sufficient. We also have to get upstream of the issues to figure out what’s going on and causing the visible effects. Otherwise we are left with whole industries addressing failures in markets and policy but with no end in sight to the problems these cause.

…to avoid only addressing the symptoms.

Experiment and learn.

In most situations there is no clear solution to be implemented (otherwise you would have done it already). Instead we need to figure out what the best next steps are. The best way to do this is through a series of small experiments to generate learning about the situation.

…to avoid path-dependency.

Consider wider planetary needs.

I believe society has to transition away the belief we are separate from and superior to nature, as this leads to an extractive approach to growth and development. How can we centre the needs of the wider ‘more-than-human’ world so that we can live more sustainably in balance with nature and our planetary boundaries.

…to avoid the exploitation and destruction of nature.

---